DCCC chief Steve Israel: House is within reach

The top House Democratic campaign strategist said Thursday that Republicans need a reality check if they truly believe they’ll expand their House majority in November.

Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman, stopped short of predicting that his party would win control of the House in November but argued Democrats have at least put the chamber in play. To win control of the House, Democrats must erase a 25-seat deficit.

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“We have gone from deep in on our 20 yard line to their 20 yard line. The goal is in sight,” Israel told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast. “I’m not going to tell you that we’re going to reach the goal, but I am going to tell you the goal is in reach.”

“Whether or not we take back the majority, there will be more Democrats in the House of Representatives,” he predicted.

Israel’s remarks came one day after his GOP counterpart, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, told reporters gathered at a Christian Science Monitor event that Republicans were poised to expand their majority in the fall elections.

Most nonpartisan prognosticators believe that Democrats will make gains but fall short of the 25 seats they need. The Cook Political Report, a respected Washington, D.C.-based publication, projects that Democrats will pick up between five and 15 seats.

Israel, seeking to cast doubt on Sessions’s remarks, said: “I will not propagandize like Pete did yesterday when he said they would pick up seats. I don’t think chest-thumping wins elections.”

The New York congressman outlined the case for why Democrats would compete for the House. With redistricting now nearly complete nationwide, Israel said the line-drawing process has increased the number of GOP-controlled districts that President Barack Obama won four years ago, making many of them natural targets for Democrats.

Israel also trumpeted the DCCC’s fundraising efforts, pointing out that the committee has outraised the NRCC despite its minority status. And he highlighted the DCCC’s recruiting, drawing attention to several candidates, including Christie Vilsack of Iowa and Dave Crooks of Indiana, who are looking to unseat Republican incumbents.

Asked about how Obama’s decision to come out in support of gay marriage would affect Democrats running in conservative districts, Israel said he’s telling candidates to voice their own view on the issue.

But he said gay marriage would not be front-and-center on the minds of voters this fall.

“I don’t think it’s that relevant. I’m a big believer that every candidate has to run their own race,” Israel said. “We’ve told our candidates that if you agree with the president, state your agreement. If you disagree with the president, state your disagreement. It’s just that simple.”

“We have gone from deep in on our 20 yard line to their 20 yard line. The goal is in sight,” [Rep. Steve] Israel told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast. “I’m not going to tell you that we’re going to reach the goal, but I am going to tell you the goal is in reach.”

So he wants to call it first-and-10 from the other team's 20-yard-line? Put it right on the border of the Red Zone? (For those of you unfamiliar with the term, "Red Zone" means the distance between the 20-yard-line and the goal line, and your chances of scoring are significantly higher.) If that's the case, the Democratic Party better not fumble the football or throw an interception.

Most nonpartisan prognosticators believe that Democrats will make gains but fall short of the 25 seats they need. The Cook Political Report, a respected Washington, D.C.-based publication, projects that Democrats will pick up between five and 15 seats.

Democrats never grasp that they must be equal to their opposition which has been fueled for decades by the super rich, a barriage of conservative groups, PACs and now Superpacs, think tanks, democracy-corrupting GOP groups like the Koch brothers ALEC that bragged about sponsoring 1,000 pieces of legislation, special interest corporate lobbyists and unlimited money to buy elections. Democrats run on ideas like caring about the working class which the Republican Party has historically NEVER represented.

Yet, faced with all the negative, false political ads, the nationwide GOP voter suppression efforts, the tsunami of GOP propaganda and social issues incitement plandering to and enflaming the worst in Americans, racism, bigotry, selfishness, and greed, Democrats will have to make an all-out effort and make sure that people show up to vote which they failed to do in 2010 when the GOP made big gains with just 25-28% of the 43% of eligible voters that bothered to show up.

Only by removing Republicans from office at the state and federal levels will America have any chance of recovering from all the damage inflicted by successive, abusive, warmongering, greedy Conservative Republican regimes that created two-thirds of our National Debt under Reagan, who tripled it, GHW Bush who added to it, and GW Bush who more than doubled it yet again along with the lifetimes of war bills from their successive oil wars and bogus military actions and their unregulated Wall St. fraud meltdown that took $15 trillion from Americans' household wealth.

Voting for our congressmen this November is *at least* as important as the presidental candidates. Congress has the country by the balls, and will not let go. We need REASONABLE people in congress. Red or blue, we need to examine all candidates in our states and vote for one that can get past all the BS and actually work on solving the problems we have.

In my humble opinion, this precludes signing a pledge, promising to take one potential solution off the table permanently. (Grover Norquist's no tax ever pledge)

Oregon congressmen and women have been typically reasonable people, but even in that case, this year its all about networking and letting friends/family in other states know about whats at stake. Tearing them away from "Dancing with the stars" to listen to reason and learn about the issues instead of just voting for the guy with the best name on the ballot.

Over the next four years the country will need to take some tough steps to recover from this mess. Steep spending cuts across the board, (including defense) and tax increases to all. The situation is long past rediculous and perilus.

Unfortunately for the Democrats, the memory of what the Democrats did when they controlled the House, Senate and White House is too recent for Democrats to have a serious chance of taking a majority position back in the House, while ensuring that they will lose their majority in the Senate. The country is swinging the other way, which should mean a clean sweep, House, Senate and Presidency. I wouldn't be too concerned though. After the GOP dismantles healthcare, they'll probably lose their majority in the House in the next election cycle.

The only house that has any chance of changing hands is the Senate. The amount of leans/safe Republican seats in the House is just too much to make up in this cycle. Realizing that many of the house seats are in locations that have been republican strongholds for ages. I'm not saying there isn't a chance, but 53-47 in the Senate will be a lot easier to flip than having 30+ seats flip in the House without losing any the other way.

While yes... CA and IL redistricting has created some help for Dems in those states, but the amount of lost representatives from blue states to red states and then the redistricting of states that are Republican owned more than makes up for those lost blue states votes. I will say that 2008 election was a huge one for Democrats, but because of the manner of how they lead for those 2 years leading up to the 2010 elections. The Democrats have seriously put themselves behind the eight ball for the next decade. With Republicans winning so many Governorships and state houses... they controlled up to 30+ states redistricting and have really thrown a wrench into taking over the house for this decade and possibly even into 2020's.

Right now, there is a serious possibility of Republican's getting to 52 or 53 Senators and keeping around 240 House members and also can take the Presidency away. So while the Dem's have control of 2/3's of the government... I'd bet more money on the Republicans getting full control of all 3 branches before the Democrats getting back control of all 3 branches.

I think the GOP/TP commentors here are taking their cues from FOX News. The growing dissatisfaction among the majority of the voting population with republicans is all too obvious to anyone that chooses to look.

Attacks on women, on gays, on the poor, on the middle class, on latinos, on students- do republicans really think these groups are going to conveniently forget about all that in November? That's about as likely to happen as Sarah Palin in the White House.

See my post above (Post #2). If Rep. Israel wants to compare the Democratic Party's goals of taking back control of the House of Representatives to a game of gridiron, then my comment stands - they better not fumble the football or throw an interception. A gain of 5 to 15 seats would, in my opinion, count as a "field goal" and therefore make the chamber closer to an even split. (According to the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, currently there are 242 Republicans, 190 Democrats, and 3 vacancies.)

As much as I keep reading post after post from both sides of the aisle stating their side will "take back the House", etc; remember, ladies and gentlemen, we are still roughly six months away from the November elections. Don't get me started on polls, either, as I've often argued that polls tend to be fluid. Now, allow me to propose the following theoretical outcomes:

· Suppose for a moment that, come November, the Democrats manage to win 25 seats or more (we'll say a minimum 28 to include the 3 vacancies). Winning 28 seats will put them at (190 + 28 = 218) 218 seats total, compared to (435 - 218 = 217) 217 seats for the GOP. A razor-thin edge to the Democratic Party, but would still be a touchdown, with a successful 2-point conversion to clinch the game.

· If the Democratic Party manages to win 15 seats in November (as predicated upon by the Cook Political Report mentioned in the article)...that puts them at 205 seats, versus 230 seats for the GOP. Or, as I've suggested, it's akin to settling for the field goal.

· If the Democratic Party loses some seats in November, depending upon how many seats they lose could, in my opinion, be the equivalent of fumbling the football away or throwing a pick.

*dons his referee shirt and white cap, blows the whistle and signals for the play clock to start*

1st and 10 from the GOP's 20 yard line, Democratic Party has control of the football.

This election is going to be an indication of how low the education level has fallen. I see ads about how low the US stands in science and math, and read studies of how many don't accept evolution or global warming, and that ignorance is the GOP's strength - getting voters to vote against their own best interests.

I am worried that the GOP states with voter ID laws targeted at the poor may preclude enough people from voting to allow the Plutocrats to win. I am also worried about voter fraud with voting machines - which the GOP doesn't talk about, which is a real concern.